With the impending return of spring-like weather (like my running it has been slow to arrive), my appetite for various foods has always been influenced by the change of seasons. While we are months away from having 'real' tomatoes available in the farmer's markets and grocery stores, I have been craving salads made with fresh vegetables a little more than usual lately. Like the seasons, the salads I like to make and eat also change. The Spinach Bacon Salad with Russian Dressing can certainly be made year round, but the addition of spring flowers turns into a salad you get to eat twice. First with your eyes, second with your taste buds. If there was ever a reason to create a garden of edible flowers, this salad would be one, but not the only one of them.
Baby spinach is more tender, sweeter, and flavorful than the grown version. Additionally, spinach happens to have a significantly higher nutritional value than lettuces.
Baby bellas or white button mushrooms sliced thinly, what is not to love? Pea shoots are beginning to show up in more places than in Asian cuisine. A perfect spring like vegetable, they hold the promise of the spring peas to come.
To combat the (un)healthiness of bacon held by some, adding hard boiled eggs to a salad might help to neutralize it. If a reason was ever needed to continue the Easter tradition of making colored eggs, the Spinach Bacon Salad with Russian Dressing would be one of them. However, to limit the making of this salad or hard boiled eggs as pre or post- Easter holiday fare would be a shame, a terrible shame.
Allegedly Russian dressing was developed in the early 1900's in Nashua, New Hampshire, and not in Russia. Early versions of the dressing were said to have contained caviar, thus slightly contributing to its' name. This version of the dressing uses canola (or vegetable) oil instead of mayonnaise.
Recipe
Spinach Bacon Salad with Russian Dressing (salad and dressing inspired by a Julia Baker recipe)
Updated April 2021
Ingredients
Dressing
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 large shallot grated or finely minced
Salad
6-8 hard boiled eggs, cut in half (highly recommend making jammy eggs)
12 ounces applewood smoked bacon, cooked crispy, cut into lardons (1/2 in slices)
1 cup pea shoots or fresh broccoli sprouts
7-8 baby bella mushrooms, sliced thin
7-8 cups baby spinach
2 purple radishes sliced paper thin
10-12 sugar snap peas cut lengthwise
Kosher salt and pepper
Optional: Edible Flowers (e.g., pansies, nasturtiums)
Directions
1. Combine the oil, brown sugar, ketchup, red wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and shallot in a medium sized bowl. Whisk until all ingredients are fully combined and dressing is smooth and slightly thickened. Transfer to a sauce boat or small pitcher. Refrigerate until ready to use.
2. Using a large platter, layer spinach, arrange hard boiled eggs around edges of platter, scatter mushrooms and bacon over top of spinach, finish with arranging pea shoots down center of the salad. Optional: Scatter edible flowers over the salad.
3. Serve salad with dressing on the side.
Kosher salt and pepper
Optional: Edible Flowers (e.g., pansies, nasturtiums)
Directions
1. Combine the oil, brown sugar, ketchup, red wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and shallot in a medium sized bowl. Whisk until all ingredients are fully combined and dressing is smooth and slightly thickened. Transfer to a sauce boat or small pitcher. Refrigerate until ready to use.
2. Using a large platter, layer spinach, arrange hard boiled eggs around edges of platter, scatter mushrooms and bacon over top of spinach, finish with arranging pea shoots down center of the salad. Optional: Scatter edible flowers over the salad.
3. Serve salad with dressing on the side.
Notes: (1) The ingredients in this salad sometimes evolve depending on what is freshly available at the grocery store or Farmer's Market. I love the flavor and taste of purple radishes and sugar snap peas, so they are now regular staples in this salad. (2) As much as I love hard boiled eggs, I am deeply madly in love with jammy eggs. Look for organic, deep yellow or orange yolk eggs.